Collector at Heart

Hi my name is Amber and I'm addicted to glass!  Early on in my life I felt like I needed to collect something.  I think a lot of us go through that.  

I collected:

• Comic books
•  Baseball cards
•  Snoopy and his gang figurines (now I limit that to Christmas time)
•  Swarovski crystal figures (I only managed to get one of those $$$$)
•  Dishes
•  China (and yes there is a difference between dishes and china) 
•  Handmade Pottery
•  Shoes

 And I'm sure if I sat here long enough the list could go on and on.  But do you know what I have found has been something that I have always collected?  Glass.  More specifically glass bottles.  Which is why I have a never ending supply of bottles for my paintings!

It all started when I was a kid.  Our neighbor was a junk collector.  What he really liked to collect was bottles.  He would comb the county looking for bottles.  I, of course wanted to join in on the treasure hunt.  I can remember digging in the woods under the leaves to see what I could find.

There were all kinds of little bottles with slime inside that smelled like molded cheap perfume that my mom would never let me keep because there was no way she could get them clean.  But my prized possession was a large Horlick's Malted Milk jar.
My mom was shocked that I had found a bottle so big after Moose (our neighborhood "treasure hunter")  had lived there for years and gone digging in those very same spots!

That milk jar was the beginning.  Now I have 30+ bottles displayed around my home.  I would probably have more but I'm refuse to pay an arm and a leg for a bottle, it ruins the hunt.  Part of collecting is the fun of the find. Going down to the local department store and buying something from China takes all the romance out of the bottle.

Bottles need stories.

• What were they used for?  
•  How many fun dates did it send a newly wed couple out on making sure the bride smelled of sweet honey?  
• How many sick children did it help see through the night?  
• Or maybe it was just sugar tabs touted as the new miracle cure!

So what is it that you collect?  What treasures do you seek out?  Have you even figured it out yet?  Are you like me and it just kind of snuck up on you while you tried to collect other things?

Of course I can't right about glass and not show you my infamous milk jug (above). It used to collect change, until we moved to a plastic society.  For years it sat on top of my tv stand as an antenna holder but this year I found something truly worthy to fill it with.  Seashells....that I collected :)